Something New to add to your Safety/Backup/Emergency Kit

[Rick]

I hope I don't get beat up to badly for espousing cell-phone use in the wilderness, but there might be a place and/or time for everything...

Anyways, I read about this neat little gadget - the Energizer Energi-2-Go a self-contained AA-battery powered Cellphone charger and decided to get one, after having a number of personal experiences where my cellphone battery has died out on longer trips or in very cold weather.

I have not deeply tested it other than to charge my cellphone several times and it did it within 25-30 minutes and there is still plenty of battery power left on the AA's (based on my battery meter). It is very light and easy to stick in the top pocket of my backpack.

I don't know if there is anything else on the market that is similar, but I find this to be a valuable device for anyone who wants to stay in touch with a cellphone - whether it is in the puckerbrush or or you end up stuck on a 2 hour conference call while awaiting a flight from an airport.

 

[DougPaul]

I don't know if there is anything else on the market that is similar, but I find this to be a valuable device for anyone who wants to stay in touch with a cellphone - whether it is in the puckerbrush or or you end up stuck on a 2 hour conference call while awaiting a flight from an airport.

Somewhere, I saw a small hand-cranked generator for charging cellphones. Might be heavier on a short trip, lighter on a long trip.

Looks like it uses 2AA cells which contain ~7.5WH of energy. My cellphone battery holds up to 3.3WH. Looks like the charger could be good for up to 2 charges.

Doug

 

[HAYDK]

Got the energizer to go for my wife's cell phone, we have not tried it out yet.
They didn't have an adapter for my LG phone.Here is another make battery back up http://www.chargetogo.com/index.html.

 

[HAYDK]

Also the hand cranked cell phone charger is called the side winder.http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roadwarriorcontent/sidewinder.htm

 

[--M.]

Maybe a silly question, but...

Why not just carry an extra cell-phone battery?

 

[Rick]

Why not just carry an extra cell-phone battery?

I had thought about doing this in the past, but the batteries were always pretty expensive - The OEMs were around $30-$40 and the knockofs were in the mid-$20s. Prices may have since dropped, but the other issue has been my wife's Motorola cellphone takes a slightly different battery. This handles both Motorolas for $20.

The other issue is that I still find in cold weather cellhphone batteries lose power too quickly - I have found my fully charged cellphone, even when turned off, loses power overnight in cold conditions if I leave it in my pack, which leads me to beleive a spare battery would also lose power quickly.

I am not a battery guru, but I do wonder if it has something to do with the small battery size, since I find the same thing happening with our slim small camera battery (and replacement backup camera battery).

 

[Stan]

I fully charge my cell phone before hitting the trail and leave it off until and unless I need it. Fortunately, the closest I've come to an emergency was wondering the Patriot's score one Sunday afternoon ... yeahhh, I called.

 

[jbrown]

I realize it's only useful in the daytime, but Solio is another option. No need to replace batteries.

Anything that has batteries that could go "dead" in the cold, including spare batteries, goes in the inside pockets of my coat furing the day or in my sleeping bag at night. I have a pair of polypropylene pants with pockets so I'll often keep my spare camera batteries in there while I'm hiking.

The cold actually just slows the chemical reaction producing the DC current and batteries that seem to go dead in the cold will "recharge" if warmed back up.